Welcome to Hermitage Foundation UK web site

One of the reasons we know so much about the appearance of the imperial palaces in and near St Petersburg in the nineteenth century - and of the rooms inside the Hermitage - is that Nicholas I commissioned numerous watercolours from artists Luigi Premazzi, Eduard Hau and Konstantin Ukhtomsky. Between 1850 and the mid-1860s they produced a fine body of exquisite and historically vital interior and exterior views, many of which are in the Department of Western European Fine Art.

In 2016 the Hermitage Foundation UK purchased a drawing from this series for the Hermitage Museum. The work of Premazzi, it shows the Sergievka estate of Nicholas I's favourite daughter, Grand Duchess Nikolaevna, built in 1839 for her and her husband Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg, by the architect Andrey Stackenschneier. The estate was a gift from Nicholas, who also presented his daughter with the Mariinsky Palace in St Petersburg.

Luigi Premazzi was an Italian painter, mainly of watercolor vedute. From 1850 he worked on commission from Emperor Nicholas I and other members of the imperial family. In 1851 he was awarded the title of ‘appointed academician’ at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, in 1854 Academician of Fine Arts; in 1861 appointed Professor of Perspective and Watercolour Painting.

The Hermitage Foundation UK and its Friends are proud to have been able to make this important contribution to the Museum's important collection of architectural drawings and interior views.

FRIENDS' EVENTS

Curator Led tour with Desmond Shawe-Taylor, Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures

Royal Academy of Arts, London

Charles I amassed one of the most extraordinary art collections of his age, acquiring works by some of the finest artists of the past - Titian, Mantegna, Holbein, Dürer - and commissioning leading art from contemporary artists such as van Dyck and Rubens. Following the King's execution in 1649, his collection was sold off and scattered across Europe; Charles I: King and Collector reunites the greatest masterpieces for the first time. It includes some 150 works of art, ranging from Classical sculptures to Baroque paintings and includes exquisite miniatures and monumental tapestries. Come and see these work reunited for the first time since the 17th century, with the Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures.

The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London
In 1660, after a decade of Cromwellian rule, the restoration of the monarchy led to a resurgence of the arts in England. Charles II ordered new royal regalia and Crown Jewels to replace those sold off or melted down - an intricate silver-gilt mace almost 1.4 metres in length is among a number of pieces made for the King's 1661 coronation. The court became the centre for the patronage of leading artists and the collecting of great works of art.Charles II: Art & Power includes over 220 paintings, drawings, books and works of art from The Royal Collection. It includes John Michael Wright's monumental portrait and a glittering silver-gilt plate which adorned the high-altar of Westminster Abbey during the King's coronation, to old master paintings, tapestries and spectacular silver-gilt furniture, the exhibition shows the rich material of Charles II's court and the role of the arts in the re-establishment of the Stuart monarchy.

Tickets £35
Includes tour with Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures followed by glass of wine